


I weather it out with you

by blcwriter



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, exes sniping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-06 17:14:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4230114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blcwriter/pseuds/blcwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is in response to the prompt at <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/where_no_woman/4121.html">Where No Woman Has Gone Before</a>, <i><span class="u">the Ex-Mrs. McCoy, Dead on Arrival.</span></i></p>
            </blockquote>





	I weather it out with you

Jocelyn Darnell thought to herself, standing in the doorway of the small, classy bar where she’d agreed to this brief, unpleasant and entirely ridiculous meeting. _At least there’s some hope for the rest of the night once it’s over._

Sitting at one end of the bar, reading a book of all things, was one of the most beautiful men Jocelyn had ever seen.Dark blond hair, cut short over a high forehead and thick, unruly brows, framing the most stunning blue eyes she’d ever seen in her life.He could be five years her junior, maybe— not that it mattered.He was gorgeous, and he seemed to be alone.

Jocelyn smiled to herself as she advanced.She looked great and she knew it.She’d dressed with care for her meeting, since appearances mattered and she wanted her appearance to match how she felt. _She_ was fabulous, almost as fabulous as the man at the bar.She’d just had her copper-red hair cut and styled in the shoulder-length bob she knew suited her best, and she’d treated herself to some Orion silks at the space station stores that flowed over her trim body and flattered her pale coloring.The good thing about being a redhead was Orion colors suited her--this cobalt-blue dress most definitely did, the slit up the leg almost scandalous, just as she liked it.She looked wealthy and like classy sex on legs—all things she was and should suit the man at the end of the bar, who looked like God’s gift to women.

“Is it too obvious to ask if this seat is taken?” she said, adopting a bantering tone.

The man looked up at her, one hand holding open his book and the other resting on the real wooden bar near a neat glass of whiskey.

“Considering that it’s empty, I’m afraid I’d have to say yes.Considering that there are several other seats open, I’d have to say yes yet again,” he replied, a polite smile on his face.

He was even more gorgeous up close.Solidly built—muscular, like he worked out hard every day.Sensuous full lips, a few pockmarks and scars on his face calling attention to how virile he was despite the fact that he was almost prettier than Jocelyn.He was wearing ordinary civilian clothes—nice ones, like he was planning on an evening out.He seemed to be from Earth, at least judging by the style of his clothes— an expensive-looking but otherwise ordinary light grey sportsjacket and blue shirt, dress slacks so far as she could see, the shirt this ice blue that made his eyes stand out so that they seemed to have their own gravity well.

He watched her, amused and unwary, as she slid onto the seat at the corner so they were in direct eye contact. 

“Paper,” she said, nodding at the book, small and with an old hardcover so faded it was impossible to tell the name of the book.“Quaint.”

He looked down, a half-smile on his face.“It was a gift.”

“What’s that one?” she asked, tipping a curious eyebrow.

“ _Leaves of Grass_ , by Walt Whitman,” he said firmly.She liked his voice—he had a mid-baritone with a slight rasp to it—an American accent with an air of authority.This was a man who knew who he was and knew what he wanted—so many didn’t, and thus tonight’s meeting.

“Poetry,” she purred.Better and better—a gorgeous man in a bar who read poetry books was not her usual.“Can’t say I’m much of a reader, though.I’ve a horse farm on Earth that keeps me busy enough, breeding and showing and meeting all sorts of interesting folks when I travel on business.”

Jocelyn let her Georgia drawl thicken a bit.Her mama always said her lilt was like honeysuckle in the August sunshine—sweet and surrounding.

“Is that what brings you to Tau Ceti Station?Business?” he asked, maintaining eye contact as he raised his glass to his lips and took a long swallow, a slip of pink tongue sweeping his lips to catch the last drops of liquid as he set the glass back on the bar.An immediate shiver ran through her at the apparently unconscious gesture and she found herself fixated a moment by the sight and thought of those lips, the way they shaped themselves around words.She wondered how they’d look saying “Jocelyn.”If she hadn’t already been intent on bedding the fellow from the moment she lit eyes on him, that nano-second’s quick flicker would have convinced her.

Shifting in her seat, she nodded, wondering if he was going to offer to buy her a drink.“Yes.I’ve a legal matter to deal with, but it shouldn’t take long, and then I’ll be back on schedule.”

He nodded politely but offered no further response, instead turning his attention back to his book and sipping more whiskey as he focused his eyes on the page.That tongue of his flickered over his lips as he reset the glass on the bar and another shiver shot through her, both at the sight and the thought that he’d clearly dismissed her from his mind for a book. 

_ A book, for Christ’s sake. _ Her inner tirade was cut short by the bartender’s arrival, so she ordered a drink.In a fit of pique, she pulled out the PADD with the paperwork she was going to need for her meeting and opened it. _Two can play at this game._

She was halfway through her last check of the documents as she sipped at her wine when the blond man’s comm chimed.He’d been engrossed in his book the whole time, even as Jocelyn flicked her glance over him at least a half dozen times to see whether he was paying attention.He wasn’t, goddamnit.Who the hell cared about old American poetry?

Setting his book down, he slipped off his stool and backed away from the bar, tipping an eyebrow at the bartender as he strode out the door to the main walkway so quickly she didn’t even catch his name as he answered his comm.Again, he didn’t even glance at her as he left.

Sighing, she took a sip of her wine.Bad enough that Jocelyn had to be here in the first place, even worse that the most gorgeous man she’d seen in ages, much less on the station, seemed completely indifferent.Curiously, she reached out and pulled the book over and flipped open the front cover.On the first page, there was an inked inscription in careful, draftsman-like printing.

_ Not that your ego needs it but it’s true all the same.“I require nothing further … He ahold of my hand has completely satisfied me…. I weather it out with you, or sink with  _ [ _ you _ ](http://www.bartleby.com/142/1031.html#317.6) _.”I may have hated space in the first place, but I’ll stand by your side ever after, my Captain._

There were no names and there was no way to tell if this particular inscription was directed at the man reading the book, though she suspected it might be.Replacing it face down on the bar, she took another sip of her drink, then returned to her PADD.Just her luck to meet someone whose lover gave them an inscribed book of poems.How goddamned antiquated and romantic—Jocelyn had never been one for that kind of thing—she was far more direct.Sitting around thinking about things and mooning them over was for the weak, like her ex.

“We gonna get this over with?” came the gravelly voice at her other elbow, startling her enough that she jostled her drink. _Damnit, Leonard,_ she thought to herself. _I could have spilled wine on my dress.Not that he cares._

“So much for pleasantries,” she retorted, turning to face her ex-husband.

_ He looks good,  _ she reflected unpleasantly. _Very good._

It had been just four years since she’d seen Leonard McCoy, that last day at the courthouse, and while she’d have happily gone without seeing him ever again, this unpleasantness couldn’t be avoided.He looked … happy, she thought sourly, looking him over.Relaxed, not on edge and almost amused, of all things.And he did look damned handsome, nothing she’d ever refused to admit.Just because he was an over-serious ass with more morals than instinct for money who thought things into the ground rather than acted when the timing was right didn’t mean he wasn’t easy on the eyes-- and he looked very, very easy on the eyes right about now, almost as easy as the indifferent blond man.

“Dressed up for me?” she asked, taking her glass and her PADD and moving over to one of the tables in the corner as he strode ahead, his ubiquitous tumbler of whiskey in hand.She hadn’t even heard him order. 

He arched one sardonic eyebrow, the pale green of his open-collared shirt under his chestnut-brown suitjacket picking up the green flecks in his hazel eyes.“Don’t flatter yourself,” he snorted.“I’m goin’ to dinner once we’re done here.”

He folded himself into the armchair across from her with the same efficient power he’d always had.He did look good—he looked even more muscular than when she’d last seen him, and he’d always been fit since he’d always been the one to break the horses and feed them himself. _Fool man.That’s what the help’s for.He was always doing things the hard way._ Still, she supposed being in Starfleet required a strong base level of fitness—even a starship’s medical staff might be expected to have to fight someday.

“Here,” she said without further preamble, sliding the PADD over the table between them.“The original breeding papers are first and the vet’s records are next and the title papers are last.You just need to sign the last page.”

Leonard arched an eyebrow at her before taking the digital tablet in hand and sitting back to page through the documents.He took his sweet time, she noted, then tried not to fidget.If he’d just sign the damned papers she’d be done and could move on to the rest of the night.

“Looks like he’s been doin’ fine,” Leonard finally drawled.“Good thing, too.All that trouble I went to to get his sire to give me his goddamned donation and I’ve still got that scar where the bastard horse bit me.”Jocelyn felt unease began to creep in as Leonard continued.“He was too much trouble to just sign on over to you, though.”

“What?”

Jocelyn blinked at Leonard’s amused denial.

“I ain’t just signin’ him on over to you,” he repeated, that husky molasses drawl of his in full swing.He slipped back into his accent when he was angry or amused or aroused and damned if Jocelyn knew what was so funny.

“You already signed over everything,” she snipped.“This is just a formality.”She shut her mouth hard on anything further.

Leonard took a long drink of his whiskey as he looked at her over his glass, eyes twinkling.Since when did Leonard’s eyes twinkle?

“See, it’s not, though.I went back and checked the paperwork, dear,” he said, drawing out the ‘ _dear_ ’ so long it was almost obscene.“You and that lawyer of yours never included Prince Hal on the inventory durin’ the divorce.I never did sign him over and seein’ as he was my favorite colt an’ now he’s a prime breedin’ stallion, I don’t see as I should do you any favors.So … how much you goin’ to pay me to sign over title?It’s either that or leave me on as owner an’ cut me in on the proceeds each time you go on sellin’ his sperm.Which means you’ll have to keep dealin’ with me, which I somehow doubt you’re interested in doin’.Kinda hard to keep trackin’ me down, what with me bein’ in deep space the next four years or so.”

Jocelyn sat back and glared.Of course Leonard would have had to have grown a spine.She’d been worried this might happen when her lawyer discovered the problem back on Earth, but he’d dismissed the worry as highly unlikely given the way things went during the divorce.Apparently she’d been right to worry.

“I don’t have time for this shit, Leonard,” she spat, trying to see if he was bluffing.

He sat back and gave her a slow, lazy, self-assured smile. _Damnit, Leonard._

“You sure don’t, darlin’.You’ve got to be on Deneb VII in what, two days, with that vial of Prince Hal’s frozen sperm?I’m sure the governor there’d hate to know there’s any question about provenance with the little colts and fillies he’s plannin’ on breedin’.An’ I’m sure you’d hate for your very first sale of Hal’s breedin’ potential to go sour.I would too, but only in theory, since I’ve no plans to go back in the business any time in this particular universe.”

“You bastard,” she hissed.

Leonard actually snickered.“Been called that name by far better than you, sweetheart.Now.I figure you didn’t exactly plan on buyin’ out my half in the Prince, so I took the liberty of having a contract drawn up, complete with what I think is a fair price, ‘specially seein’ as I could have filed an injunction on this upcomin’ sale rather than just made you a gentlemanly business proposition.”He reached into his jacket and pulled out his own PADD, clicking through several things until he found what he was looking for.

_ Goddamned bastard,  _ she thought as she read through the papers.It _was_ a fair price and she didn’t have time to try to bluff or further negotiate.First, the handsomest man this side of Earth wouldn’t give her a second look, and now Leonard had found his balls again.This trip was a wash.

Despite her grammy’s caution about wrinkles, Jocelyn failed to suppress a frown as she signed the papers and handed them back, authorizing the credit transfer—then frowned some more as Leonard took the PADD back with that same amused smile.Inspecting her signature, he beamed her a copy of the documents and put his tablet away.

“Didn’t ask after your mother,” he murmured, that glint in his eye coming back as he took a long, satisfied slug of his drink, lazily licking the last drops of the liquid from his lips.“Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Save it,” she said.“I’m going.You can at least pay for my drink.”

Leonard snorted again.“Gladly.Enjoy Deneb.Beautiful place.The governor’s a real nice fellow—met him last month when I was curin’ his daughter o’ space plague.Funny how small space really is, ain’t it?Give him my best regards, will you?”

There was no response to that quip that didn’t involve a curse, so Jocelyn tucked her PADD in her bag and stalked to the ladies’ room, passing the blond man back in his seat on her way.Looking up, he gave her a half-smile before he bent back to his book. 

_ Well, at least he looked at me.Maybe the evening’s not entirely lost.And he’s better-looking than Leonard. _

After straightening up and adjusting her lipstick, Jocelyn re-entered into the lounge, intending to make one last go at who she'd termed "the holovid actor", only to stop short in shock. 

Leonard gave her a smile as she stared—her ex-husband was leaning against the bar, right next to the gorgeous man—and he was smiling and laughing heartily about something with him, looking far more engaged than he ever had when she’d been trying to make time.

Leonard smiled more widely as Jocelyn approached—she had to pass them in order to leave the bar, goddamnit.She pasted on her pleasantest smile.

“Jo, this is Captain Jim Kirk of the Enterprise,” he said as she reached them.“Jim, this is my ex, Jocelyn Darnell.”

The man turned from looking strictly at Leonard to greet her, his smile shifting from open and completely amused to polite and totally closed.

“Ms. Darnell,” he said, shaking her hand so briefly that it was almost rude—but not quite.Fitting, she supposed.Turning back to her ex, he said “We met briefly before Scotty commed me, but we hadn’t exchanged names.”

Leonard quirked an eyebrow at him, more amused than ever.“Jo’s sellin’ some o’ Prince Hal’s sperm stock to the Governor, remember he was tellin’ us at dinner that night?”

Jocelyn rolled her eyes in disgust and interjected.“Yes, you mentioned—while you were saving his daughter from space plague.”

The blond— _Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise, for christ’s sake, no wonder he looks like a holovid actor--_ chuckled and looked at her.“Right.Did he tell you the rest of the story?He was saving the colony’s children from space plague and I was busy organizing the militia to defend against the Romulan incursion at the capital—we were just there as tourists and the damned universe’s troubles followed us.I still say it was his fault, the ship wasn’t even in orbit, so it wasn’t on my watch when the trouble arose.But it is a lovely planet.”

Leonard snorted, squeezing the back of the man’s neck affectionately.“I told you we shoulda picked an uninhabited planet for the honeymoon, but you wanted to go to Deneb.”

The captain leant in to Leonard and gave him a shove with his hip.“And it’s a good thing I did, or the whole planet wouldn’t have been saved, and we wouldn’t have a perfectly nice open invitation to come back whenever we want, free of charge.But I’ll admit I owe you at least one shore leave without disease, danger and darkness.”

_ Honeymoon? _ she thought as Leonard threw his head back and laughed at Captain Kirk’s statement.

Looking at the two men again, she took in what she hadn’t noticed before—simple platinum bands on their left ring fingers.

“You got married?” she asked dumbly. _To a man?To the captain of your starship?To the most famous Starfleet Captain going?_

Leonard nodded, still grinning.“Couple months ago.”

Captain Kirk grinned as he slid off his stool.Standing, he tucked his book into his jacket pocket and watched as Leonard clucked at the swallow of whiskey left in the man’s glass on the bar.“Damnit, Jim,” he cursed with a smile on his face.“How many times’ve I told you it’s a sin to waste booze?”

“You drink it, then, you old lush,” the young captain teased, Jocelyn completely shut out of their banter.

Leonard smirked and picked up the glass, tipping half of it back and licking his lip in such a seductive gesture that Jocelyn felt a shiver pass through her. _Goddamnit, Leonard._

“Split it with you, kiddo,” he said, and his husband took the glass and deliberately sipped from the same place where Leonard’s mouth had been, then licked his own lips as he had earlier.They stared at each other as Starfleet’s youngest captain then flicked his tongue over the rim of the glass before setting it down on the bar.Leonard’s grin turned feline, almost feral, and his captain’s answering smile was as equally virile.

_ Christ.It’s so hot in here I might faint,  _ Jocelyn thought, temporarily incapable of mustering any outrage over the fact that Leonard had taken up with a man.

Leonard and his husband— _his husband!_ \-- bid their adieus to her politely enough.With a small sigh, Jocelyn took a seat at the bar, then ordered another drink as she watched Leonard and his husband come to a halt just outside the door, greeting some Vulcan and a striking black woman.When the bartender came back, she gave Jocelyn a sympathetic smile.

“Sorry, hon.I could have told you you were dead on arrival with the Captain there, though I’d no idea the brunette was his husband.Heard Kirk used to be quite a tomcat until his ship’s doctor got him all settled down.How d’you know him?The brunette?”

Jocelyn’s smile twisted.“I used to be married to him.”

The bartender eyed her with interest.“That so, hunh?”Shaking his head, she looked out at the group outside in the passageway.“The ones who get away, right?”

“Apparently.”

Jocelyn watched as the group continued to talk and thought back on the inscription she’d read.

_ I may have hated space in the first place, but I’ll stand by your side ever after, my Captain. _

Leonard never bought her any poetry.

\--------

**Author's Note:**

> According to [Memory Beta](http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page), the non-canon ST site, McCoy’s ex’s maiden name is Jocelyn Darnell.In TOS, she remarries and takes the name Treadway.Since the movie makes no mention of Joanna and given Bones’ relatively young age (31 in the movie, 32 or thereabouts here), I’m assuming that Jocelyn goes back to her maiden name.  
>    
>  Quoted text in the inscription is from Leaves of Grass.  
>    
>  It's not sporting of me to make Jocelyn a shrew, but I couldn't help it. I love my boys too much. Do check out the comm, though-- there are lots of prompts and no limits on who writes them, so everyone can have their way with the ladies of Trek and these themes.


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